Self-propelled toy vehicles are well-known. The prime mover of such vehicles generally comprises an electric driven motor, an inertia driven fly wheel, or a coil spring actuated drive gear. The prime mover is typically coupled to the wheels of the toy by a geared drive train.
The play value of such toy vehicles is often directly related to their ability to realistically imitate the driving characteristics of full scale automobiles. For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 4,059,918 discloses a toy vehicle, driven by the inertia of the rotation of a fly wheel, wherein the directional movement of the vehicle may be changed from forward to neutral or to reverse while the fly wheel is rotating. U.S. Pat. No. 4,363,185 discloses a toy vehicle, also driven by an inertia driven fly wheel, having a gear changing mechanism for selectively choosing between a variety of speeds at which the vehicle can be operated. Other patents disclosing self-propelled toy vehicles are U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,257,064, 2,697,305, 3,538,640, 3,647,025, 3,995,718, 4,116,084 and 4,278,149. Heretofore, however, there have been no toy vehicles that could selectively be made to come to an abrupt halt after a powered run, or which could realistically imitate the "spin out" of a full scale automobile.